Love in the time of Crime
by steven watemaker
Summary: My third fanfic hurrah!. A great adventure: intellectually satisfying and romantic... Conan turns to Shinichi, goes to suprise Ran but... hehehe you'll soon find out!


NOTES: This is a detective Conan fanfic. There may be some details that are wrong, please feel free to point them out. Furthermore, I cannot compare to the greatness of Gosho Aoyama, so don't ask!

A sunny April afternoon. The phone rang at Mori Detective Agency. A girl named Ran picked up the phone.

"Hello? Mori Detective Agency" said Ran.

"Oh, hey Ran!" said the voice on the other side of the line. The voice sounded familiar...

"Shi-Shinichi?" said Ran, Bewildered at the voice that was coming out of the receiver. "Is that you?"

"Of course it is." Said Shinichi in a warm voice.

"Where have you gone now? Don't you know I miss you?" asked Ran, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Don't cry" said Shinichi. It seems as if his voice was indicating his exact presence in the room.

"I-I'm not crying," said Ran. "Is there something in my voice? He's that smart to figure that out?" She thought.

"You are crying. Why then are there tears in that beautiful face of yours?"

"What?"

"Look behind you"

Ran spun around. She saw before her Shinichi Kudo in his blue outfit, smiling, and holding a cell phone next to his ear. "Hey Ran!"

Ran was teary-eyed. Before she knew it, Shinichi was inching himself towards her, locking her in a tight embrace. "I just called to say"-- there was a pause then, the detective continued. "I love you"

Ran's heart was beating fast. She was paralyzed at the moment, savoring the warmth of Shinichi's embrace. "Is this a dream?" she asked herself. "No, this can't be a dream, it's reality!" But then again, an odd ringing seemed to make Ran's sensation dissolve into nothingness, as if she was being pulled off from Shinichi. Painless, dark, silent...

Ran suddenly sat up from her futon, her alarm clock ringing noisily-- It was a dream, after all.

"Hey there Ran!" said Conan. He was seated at the breakfast table savoring a cup of coffee. "What's up?"

"Be quiet!" said Ran.

"Wow, she woke up from the wrong side of the bed," said Conan.

The phone rang, and like in the land of Yume, Ran picked up the phone and screamed. "MORI DETECTIVE AGENCY! WHAT DO YOU WANT!"

"Oh Hey Ran!" said the voice. But definitely not Shinichi's

"Oh, Doctor Agasa. How are you today?"

"I'm fine as always" said Doctor Agasa. "I want to speak to Conan"

Ran turned around. "Conan, It's Dr. Agasa". Conan marched to the telephone.

"Hey Conan!" said Dr. Agasa. "Come on down here, I've got something for you!"

"Okay". Conan hung up, and got his shoes, and prepared to go out.

"And where do you think you're going?" said a voice that got chills running down his spine. It was Ran.

"Well, Dr. Agasa wanted me to visit him so I'm going to his place."

"Okay, just be careful." Ran smiled. Conan wished he were Shinichi again, so that he can relish her smile, and return the gesture not as a seven-year old boy, but as the man she loves...

At Dr. Agasa's place, Conan Edogawa marveled at the Professor's laboratory.

"Here" said the professor

"What's this?" asked Conan. It looked like a pill or something.

"Well, I analyzed that thing that turns you back to Shinichi and developed this" The doctor examined the pill under a microscope. "Now, I reckon this thing can turn you back into your old self for a full twenty-four hours".

"Really? Wow!" Said Conan, wide-eyed. He took the pill then took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and threw the miniscule thing inside his mouth. In a few moments after he swallowed it, he felt hot, like a fever was ravaging him inside, consuming him.

"Hey doctor," he said rather weakly, barely able to speak with the pain inside him. Nevertheless, he smiled. "You still have my old clothes, would you?"

And so after around five minutes, Shinichi borrowed Dr. Agasa's phone and called the Mori Detective Agency...

"Mori Detective Agency, No one's home at the moment so please leave your name and message after the beep."

"Damn! It's just the silly old answering machine!" said Shinichi. "Oh well..."

Shinichi just thought he'd surprise Ran back at their house. He was imagining the look in her face when she opens the door and sees him, leaning in her father's desk, smiling warmly...

"I'm coming, Ran!" He ran through the streets...

He came across a building that through all this time, he had known him like the back of his hand. He was now tall enough to open the door, which was strangely unlocked, and then, and he imagined, leaned on the desk.

He grasped the table for support and felt an envelope that was addressed to Mori.

"That's odd, it wasn't here this morning," thought Shinichi. He opened the letter and found a grim message:

Dear Kogouro Mori:

If you want your daughter back, pay up 30 million yen, tonight. Come alone

Where Heaven meets Earth in Tokyo

That is where you must go

The three threes pierce the sky

Twenty-three signals shout out why

The place you seek is orange and white

Illuminated by a bright white Light

-Two Criminal Masterminds.

"Ran, Kidnapped?" Thought Shinichi. "Now Way!"

Thoughts of saving Ran coursed through his mind. "I really have to save her"

He sat down at the couch and read the letter again...

"Some criminal masterminds!" He mused. "This riddle is so easy!"

"Let's see, the guys are talking about a tall structure in the first line. The third line talks about its height, 333m. The fourth line says it must be a broadcasting tower that covers twenty-three signals. It's painted orange and white and illuminated at night, which makes it a popular destination. There's only one possible conclusion: **Tokyo Tower**"

Shinichi ran as fast as he could to the train station. Dusk was already falling when he got to the base. He found a note in one of the legs of the tower.

Dear Mr. Mori:

We wait inside the three trees

Give us the money, will you please?

Please come quickly, or she will die

before the moon waxes in the sky.

-Two criminal masterminds.

"Hmm.. Three trees" Shinichi thought. "If you take the kanji of tree and arrange it in such a way to accommodate three in a single character, you get the character of forest. Damn, I'm so brilliant!" Shinichi laughed. "How ironic, the word for forest is Mori!"

There was a small wood nearby. And Shinichi walked towards it. He found a soccer ball, possibly left behind by some kid. He started playing with it as he was walking towards the forest. He immediately spotted two people in the ground, and nearby, the unconscious body of Ran.

"Hey, some criminal masterminds you are" said Shinichi.

"Who are you?" said one of the criminals

"Shinichi Kudo, a detective."

"A detective?"

"Yes. What have you done with her?"

"Heh. We have poisoned her already. If she doesn't receive the antidote in an hour she will die" said another criminal.

"Oh really?" Shinichi saw that one criminal was holding two vials-the poison and the antidote. He laid the ball on the ground, and kicked hard. Fortunately, he had those wonder sneakers in adult size. So he kicked real hard, the ball hitting both criminals (they were very close to each other) square in their faces and knocked them unconscious.

Shinichi took the two vials. "Which one?" after around half a minute, he figured it out."

"Stupid!" He said "The poison is in the vial with less volume then the antidote! Sheesh…"

He administered the antidote. In a few moments, Ran opened her eyes.

"Shi-Shinichi?"

"Yes. It's me, Ran. Everything's gonna be okay"

"What's going on?"

"Long story. But I'm glad you're safe." Shinichi inched closer, and kissed Ran.

**The End**


End file.
